New Beginnings: A Sydrian story
by M.J. Apollinaire
Summary: Sydney's only job is to keep Jill safe. Yet she cant help but feel a strange connection to Adrian. Now that Dimitri is here she'll do anything in her power to help Adrian overcome his troubled past and move on. Can she do that w/o getting too attached...
1. Chapter 1

The first thing that I could think of when I saw Dimitri Belikov standing on the doorway was _oh no, Adrian. _ The sound of someone clearing his throat startled me. I looked to my side and realized was the one that had brought me out of my trance was Abe Mazur.

"Sydney, I trust you remember Belikov." Abe signaled for Dimitri to step into the room.

Dimitri stepped into the room and walked towards us, standing next to Abe. Which I thought was a very good idea considering Adrian looked like he was ready to pounce. I looked at Adrian and noticed him flexing his hand. The tightening in his jaw was enough of a sign to show he was extremely upset. I don't know why but every fiber of my being wanted to reach out to him at that moment. Why did this have to happen now? Just when he was started to get a hang of things?

"Sydney, is very nice to see you again."

I shook Dimitri's hand only to see Adrian flinch.

"Adrian," Dimitri acknowledged Adrian with a shake of his head.

Everyone in the room was quiet, except for Angeline, who was searching through Adrian's fridge asking if he had any goat milk.

"It is so nice to have everyone together again," said Sonya as she came out of the bathroom. "is something wrong?" she asked after seeing our serious faces.

"I need to get out of here," Adrian muttered.

When he tried to step away from me my hand shot out and grabbed his arm taking him by surprise, and he wasn't the only one. I looked at my hand as if it was some alien creature. Why in god's name had I just done that? Dimitri seemed a bit surprised by my reaction too but he dismissed it quickly. Abe, on the other hand, looked stunned. He kept looking back and forth from Adrian's face to mine, a knowing smile spreading slowly across his face. Adrian looked to where my hand touched his arm and then lifted his eyes to mine. In the time that I had known him I had never seen Adrian look so defeated. He was always so alive, and witty. Yet the pain and despair in those emerald green eyes were enough to last a lifetime. All that suffering in those eyes, I could almost feel my own heart breaking.

"Adrian, please don't."

The despair in his eyes gave way into anger. Too late I realized my mistake. He leaned towards me and whispered in my ear.

"Don't worry, Sage. This poor bastard is not going on a binge, so you don't have to worry about jailbait getting a hangover."

He shrugged my hand off his arm and stormed out of the apartment. With every step he took out of that room I felt worse. He thought I was going to say, _please don't go get drunk. _When what I really meant to say was _please don't shut me out._


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

No one heard from Adrian for the rest of the day. I went back to the school and asked Jill if she could get a hold of him but whatever he was doing he kept blocking her out. After he left the apartment Abe thought it would be best if the rest of the research team to go and get settled. I was glad to hear this, until Abe let me know they would be moving to the apartment down the hall.

"You can't be serious?"

"Oh, I am serious Sydney. You better track Adrian down and let him know he has to work with us. All our hides are on the line, including yours."

I might've been in good terms with my superiors after busting Keith, but I knew I was still under cautious scrutiny. I don't know what would happen to me or Zoe if I didn't get Adrian to contribute with the investigation.

"Poor Adrian, I can't believe Abe dropped this bomb on him out of the blue. He knows how affected Adrian get just by hearing Dimitri's name, imagine having to cohabitate with him indefinitely." Jill said from behind me.

While I was at the school I figured I might as well get some packing done and move to my new room. Stanton made sure the staff at Amberwood got a call from my "parents" requesting for our cousin Angeline to room with Jill while I got a single room.

"That's Mr. Abe Mazur, doing whatever the hell he pleases to get the job done. That is so like him, terrorizing people. The guy thrives for drama you should have heard him 'all our hides are on the line, you better track Adrian down' I just don't get- "

Jill grabbed me by the shoulders and turned me around to face her

"Jeez, Sydney slow down and take a breath. You're starting to sound like me." she said with a smirk. "Since when do you care so much for Adrian anyways, last thing I knew you could barely stand him."

That was a very good question. Why did I care if Adrian was hurting or not. He was a vampire, a creature of the night. His feelings shouldn't concern me whatsoever. _Vamp lover,_ I could picture Keith's sneering face.

"I don't care for him, at all. I just really need to make this work. Just think about the amazing things that could come from this investigation. Sure, spirit users can turn strigoi back into moroi. But with this project they might be able to find the key that could prevent people from becoming strigoi in the first place."

Jill regarded me with a thoughtful expression.

"Yeah, I guess that's it."

I finished packing the rest of my things and bid Jill goodnight. It turns out my new room had a big window with an ocean view. Something I would have never been able to have if I was still rooming with Jill, so much sunlight would have been a drag for her. I was so tired I didn't even bother unpacking. I did, however get out of my uniform and folded it. I got between the covers and closed my eyes. _Adrian, where are you? Please come back. _

I had a dream. I was standing in our living room back home; Zoe was sitting next to my mother on the couch looking over a magazine. That was something they only did when my father was not at home. If he saw them doing that he would only complain about how it was a waste of time and they should only care about reading the alchemy journals. In a corner of the magazine cover there was a pirate. I couldn't help but smile and think of Adrian and his stupid tattoo idea. _Adrian._

"What the hell is going on?"

I jumped startled, for a moment I thought my dad come home and was going to yell at my mother and sister, but I shouldn't have been scared. It was only a dream after all. However, the slurred voice didn't belong to my father. I turned around and saw Adrian standing by the couch.

"_Adrian_?"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Adrian looked around the living room in confusion, taking in his surroundings until his eyes finally landed on me.

"Sage? What did just happen? I was just talking to Jill and I now I'm _here."_

No, this can't be happening. This is my dream not a spirit dream, I can tell the difference. Spirit dreams are usually more vivid and realistic, this dream wasn't. Adrian did a double take on me and gulped.

"Wow, Sage, that's some get up you have there." His eyes held an expression he had never used on me, was that, _interest_?

"What get up?" I looked down expecting to see my regular pjs and instead found myself wearing a white, lacy, babydoll. _Oh my God._

"Well, this is a new one. I'm usually the one conjuring up the dreams, this time however you seem to be the one needing me." he said this with a shy smile.

"Look, I don't know what is going on. First of all, I didn't 'conjure you up' I don't do magic, and second of all I don't need you. This is just some crazy dream, not a spirit one. Spirit dreams are more colorful, with more focus."

While I babbled Adrian observed me with an amused expression.

"You mean vivid like this?"

He started to walk towards me very slowly and with each step our surroundings became blurry, then they became more colorful and sharp. By the time he stood right in front of me we were standing on a beach under the moonlight. _Not again, please. _My muscles became rigid and it was becoming hard for me to breathe. I don't if this was due to his nearness or my fear of magic all I knew was that I had to wake up.

"You promised you wouldn't do magic again." I started trembling, this wasn't right. This was unnatural.

"I'm not, I'm as surprised as you are. Just calm down, you're going to wake up soon."

A big wave crashed into the shore and along with it a cold strong wind. Hugging myself I asked him.

"How do you know that?"

He smiled and said "Because time's running out, and this is your dream."

The white sand under my feet turned black and enveloped me. I felt as I was in the middle of a sand storm. I looked at him one more time and watched as the black sand swallowed him whole.

"_Adrian!_"

I woke up covered in sweat and gasping for air. It was only a dream. Finally calming myself, I automatically went to grab for my necklace only to find it gone. I got out of bed and scrambled through the darkness toward my nightstand. When my fingers closed around the cold crucifix I let out a big breath. I clasped the necklace on and swore that when I found Adrian Ivashkov in the morning he would have a lot of explaining to do.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Don't take this the wrong way, but you look like hell." This came from Eddie as we were waiting in line to get out lunch.

"I couldn't sleep last night." After my dream with Adrian I was too scared to go back to sleep so I spent the night dozing off and waking up again.

"You weren't the only one." said Jill as she approached us with a very disgruntled Angeline. "She kept complaining the whole entire night, 'the bed's too soft,' 'the room is too quiet'."

Angeline stopped trying to button her sweater and said, "I'm used to sleeping in the wilderness, I miss its sounds."

And lots of them there were. I remember when I had to stay with Angeline's family back when Rose, Dimitri and I were hiding with The Keepers. A few days in there and I was dying for internet connection.

"I take it back, she looks worst than you," said Eddie, trying to hold back laughter while taking in Angeline's appearance.

I assume from her lack of sleep she woke up late and didn't have time make herself presentable for the first day of school. I don't even think she was wearing the right size. Eddie tried to hide his laughter by drinking some of his orange juice but failed miserably, resulting on him almost choking. Angeline stopped tugging on her collar and approached him slowly, looking him in the eye, which was kind of had since her forehead only got up to his chin.

"What's so funny, tainted boy? Think you're better than me just because you were raised in luxury?" Angeline challenged.

Uh oh. Eddie's laughter died and he frowned in confusion. I guess Rose never got a chance to go really into detail about The Keepers with her friends back at St. Vladimirs. Looking from Angeline to me he asked.

"Was that supposed to be an insult? Come on, even a hillbilly like you can come up with something better than that."

Angeline stopped smirking and snarled, she actually snarled. I had to do something or these two were going to start a fight in the middle of the cafeteria. Luckily my savior came in the form of Micah Vallence, who showed up just in time to break the fight.

"Hey, guys. Starting a family meeting without me?" Micah asked jokingly stepping between Eddie and Angeline.

Jill took advantage of Angeline's distraction to pull her aside and try to calm her down. Like always Micah's presence had an amazing effect on Eddie. Micah talked Eddie down and sent him away.

"Thank you, Micah. I don't know what would've happened if you had not intervened, I'm not very good when it comes to altercations."

"No problem. You know, if it weren't for the fact that they're cousins I could've sworn that was sexual tension in the making."

"Really?"

"Yeah, I mean, the way they were looking at each other. That was pretty intense sexual tension right there."

That was certainly a new theory. Now that I thought about it Angeline acted kind of strange when she was first introduced to Eddie. It's now wonder I didn't pick up on it since I'm so clueless when it comes to romantic endeavors.

"Look, Sydney. I have to go, tell Jill I'll see her later."

Jill came over to me just as Micah ran after Eddie.

"Oh, where did they go? I hoped we were all having breakfast together." Jill said disappointed. "What were you and Micah talking about anyways?" she asked while sipping from her milk.

"Sexual tension," I answered and watched Jill choke on her drink.

"What?"

I gave her a napkin so she could dry her face and went on to explain my conversation with Micah.

"So you really think he has feelings for her?" Jill asked shyly.

"I wouldn't say feelings, they just met each other. I'm no expert but I would say maybe it's purely physical. They're both healthy dhampir teens, and Angeline's pretty in sort of wild-ish way. And she has those exotic dhampir looks, this could actually work. Maybe it would serve as a distraction for Eddie from-" when I saw Jill's face I trailed off. "Jill, is something wrong?"

Her big green eyes were glassy, and her pale moroi face almost looked flush. Why would she get upset all of the sudden. It's not as if she was…

"Jill, are you jealous?"

"What?" she squealed. "No, I- ah…" She blushed even more and started babbling.

"Look, we don't have to talk about it if you don't want to." She looked grateful for that. "Hey, I've been meaning to ask you. Did you happen to hear from Adrian after I left you yesterday?"

"Actually, yeah I did. We spent most of the night talking, he seemed a little bit calm."

"You mean on the phone or during a spirit dream?"

"A spirit dream, of course."

"Did anything out of the ordinary happen during this spirit dream? Like him disappearing out of the blue for example?" she stopped eating and gave me a funny look.

"No, why?"

"Nothing, just wondering."

I stopped myself from asking any more questions. The only way I was going to find out what happened the night before was asking Adrian himself.

That day after school I immediately rushed to Adrian's apartment only to bump into Alberta on the elevator.

"Ms. Sage, I was just on my way to your school. We need to talk about Mr. Ivashkov."

"I know he shouldn't have run off like that I was just on my wa-" I couldn't finish talking because she interrupted me.

"You're wasting your time, he's not there."

Gosh, what was it with this guy never being around when one needed him.

"Sydney, you know I'm fond of you. You've done more in a matter of weeks than any other alchemist managed in months, but if you don't make this work I'm afraid I'll have to remove you from this mission."

"What?" this could not be happening.

"Unless you don't make things work with Ivashkov I can't vouch for you anymore. I've already put my neck on the line for you too many times. They think you're going soft, maybe it's true and you have been spending too much time with vampires."

"Please, Alberta. I promise I'll make it work."

"You better, there's a lot on the line here. Not only for the Alchemists but also for the moroi. Besides, I know you can do it. You're strong Sydney, don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

As the elevator stopped Alberta gave me a shy smile and stepped off. Great, now I had more things to worry about. If only I could find Adrian.


End file.
